Alien bud

[baba]

Doesn't it look like an alien? I shot it using Olympus E-510 with a 50mm F2.0 lens. I would like your comments on how the shot has come out. Would stepping back a little help put the front leaf(now unfocussed) in more focus? Would that have been a better approach or is this good enough?

Also, do you all use any technique/preprocessing for uploading photos here? At this time I just upload the jpeg output from my camera as is. Should I be compressing it before uploading? Just want to ensure I am doing it the right way.

[jiminyClickit]

baba, Welcome

Here's a link to posting from offsite hosts, making it much easier to place full-sized (640 pixels longest side) photos in your thread:

http://digital-photography-school.co...aq.php?faq=img

Please read the guidelines for posting carefully, too. You haven't waited 24 hours between this and your last post, and we usually delete posts for that. First time, we let it pass. Just to be fair to others, one thread per day, one photo per thread, everybody gets a chance to be Critiqued.

[daft_biker]

Hi Baba, yes I think it does look like an alien Well spotted!

It looks like this was shot with a fairly large aperture and not at your closest focus distance. (unless of course it was a really small plant!) Am I right in thinking that Oly 50mm f/2 is a "macro" lens that give up to half-lifesize magnification?

Chances are at the magnification you were at you could have stopped down further and it would have had a pretty significant effect on DoF. As you suggest moving even further back to shoot at less magnification would result in more DoF at any given aperture.....for me shooting at less than lifesize is about controlling DoF with aperture and/or magnification so use both.

I personally find it's best to use a tripod and practice on subjects that aren't blowing about in the wind. Mushrooms are often pretty steady and don't mind waiting for you to setup a tripod Taking your time using a tripod and exerimenting with how much you get in focus at various apertures and magnifications is the best way to learn I reckon....I certainly find it more useful that snapping away and hoping for the best handheld (I've done plenty of that too).

PS your shot reminds me of this shot

[tekn0lust]

Looks like a Mantis. Pretty cool.

[vegasvic]

Howdy,

Your background is too distrcting. If you had used a smaller aperture, your background would have been sharp too. When I photograph something similiar I'll put a piece of colored poster board behind my subject. The poster board doesn't have to be a whole sheet just large enough to hide other plants or a distrcting backgound. Perhaps you can try it.